Peeking through the drifting clouds, a bright spring sun shimmered rays down upon the land.  Sweeping through the fields, a gentle breeze lazily brushed by.  The world refused to be silenced as metal clashing against each other rung out over the grunts and commands of those nearby.  Grass crunched under my paws as pain flared up in my rapidly beating heart with each exhaustion I wheezed out.  With a stacked hay bale passing my peripheral, I could hear Gerbera declare “just ten more," at me while I had already lost count.  Regardless of how I felt, I pushed myself to the end as I was ready to collapse once I reached the final lap.

“Good.  You can rest up for now, I'm going to see if I can squeeze you in for target practice."  The young blonde announced as I plopped down on my ass.

My gaze gradually surveyed the area as I tried my best to ease my heavy panting.  While still visible, the southeastern wall of the town was still quite a ways away.  A couple of buildings were dotted throughout the place, and while I'm unsure of what most of their purposes are for, I at least came to the conclusion that they do belong to this military.  The sight of people being trained in weapons filled up one section of a field, while in another portion were mock battles.  I know further out there were horseback lessons being taught, but those riders eventually disappeared over one of the hills.  The area I'm finding myself in currently is used as a gym class since I'm at what's the track sight; basically being made up of rows of hay bales set to measure five hundred meters.  Close by to me is what looks to be an endurance course that's set up of obstacles to climb over and crawl under, along with rope swings and narrow looking bridges.  In the more open parts of this section, numerous trainees were exercising as they were overseen by a commanding officer.  As my lungs no longer felt on fire, I leaned back with a relaxed breath.

I don't know who has it easier.  Me or them?  These knights to be supposedly will train for a year at most, while I only have to worry about essentially half a month.  Yes I have the shorter time, but I'm being drilled as much as possible for my stay.  The soldiers here will technically get more breaks over their course, but at the same time they will be taught far more then what I'm being given.  Gerbera already told me that all I will be run through is stamina and combat training, everyone else will be dealing with strategies, commands, and so much more.  I would say I'm the luckier one in the end, but then again, none of these people here are cursed.

“All right, Telaraya, follow me."  I heard Gerbera state as she returned.

Gradually popping into the distance view, I was greeted with the sight of painted hay bales and straw dummies with ragged armor at varying ranges.  A small group appeared to be waiting for us with one of them even waving me over.  I soon recognized the human gesturing as I asked him what he was doing here.

With a soft smile, Albert responded, “It's an off day, so me and the others figured we'd get some practice in.  I hear you'll be training with us for a bit."

“Yeah, but it's not going to be for that long."

Gerbera quickly cleared her throat to force my attention back to her.  “When you are ready, I have prepared a standard bow and crossbows for you to use.  The target you'll be aiming for is that bale at the fifteen yard mark.  I'll let you decide which weapon you wish to begin with."

Out of my picks, I went with the larger crossbow, and despite it not being a lever action like the smaller one, it still at least had a stirrup bar to help with reloading.  I was then given blunt tip bolts to use.

“Very well.  While marginally easier to use compared to the traditional bow, you'll find that you will still need to-"

With a quick snap, the bolt flew, and while not a direct bullseye, it still hit pretty close to the center.  Following that, I soon tugged the string back only to fire the crossbow again.  I did this over and over again, adjusting my aim with each pull of the trigger until I was satisfied where I shot.  While the shooting and weight are certainly different, it's still somewhat similar to firing a rifle.  It's also the only weapon I have experience with thanks to my dad taking me to a gun range and later hunting when I was younger.

Shocked silence engulfed the others as even Gerbera looked dumbfounded at me.  I nervously stared back at everyone as I could feel my tail fidget around.

“Umm…"

“How…?"

“It…was easy.  All you have to do is point and shoot."

“Yes, that is the gist of it…but normally beginners aren't that accurate."  Gerbera switched back to my target.

“Maybe I just have a good affinity with crossbows.  Everyone has something they're good at."  I lied through an anxious smile.

“That…very well might be.  Why don't you go ahead and pick up the long bow."

After switching weapons and nocking an arrow, I quickly came to the realization that video games have lied to me about bows being a dexterous weapon, for I actually had to put quite a bit of strength into pulling the string back and holding it ready as I tried to aim.  The results were embarrassing and far compared to my previous show as the arrow landed head in the dirt…and ten feet away from the bale.  My arms grew tired as each of the following ballistics landed nowhere near my target except for one, and even then it only grazed the edge of the straw.  If I didn't have my back turned to them, I think those snicking behind me in disbelief would see my annoyed blush.

The blonde knight then put her hands on me, adjusting my body and limbs around to make my posture straighter as I held the weapon.  “Try now."

Well it certainly hit the target this time, just not in the circle.

With my arms turned into jelly, I finished firing the last arrow I was given as I have essentially turned a hay bale into a horrendous porcupine of poor aim.  I probably would have felt better if I was allowed to switch back to the crossbow, but during my attempted practice, Gerbera did inform me I should focus on getting my other skills up to par first.  All I could do now was watch the other knights make a mockery of my archery as I waited for the feeling in my limbs to return.

“Ready to continue?"  The young woman approached.

“As much as I can be."  I said as I rubbed my biceps.

“Then go ahead and follow me."  After leading me away to the field where others were training with melee weapons, Gerbera spoke up and told me to grab something from a nearby rack.

Propped up in their slots, there were a variety of weapons; swords, spears, maces, axes, all of them metal, but very basic looking.  Upon grabbing a sword, I actually noticed that the blade was completely dull, to which I asked about.  The Captain told me that all the weapons on the training field were replicas so that way they can simulate the weight of the real thing without being as dangerous.  I would still have to be careful though.

“I'm going to make this simpler just for you to make up for your short stay.  Remember these numbers well."  Gerbera continued as she then assigned a number to directions she wanted me to swing my sword.  “One!  One!  One!"  She soon shouted.

Immediately I followed her direction as I performed three downward overhead swings.  The knight spouted more numbers as this time I swung down, but followed it with an upwards slash and finished by curving the sword towards my right and swung horizontally to the left.  Gerbera didn't relent as she ordered more as I started from my left this time, and after the second strike, I had to finish with a thrust.  Again and again, I slashed the air in the directions Gerbera instructed me to, receiving no breaks between each interval.  It ranged from being simple as a single attack, to an ascending or descending numerical order, and then to complicated mix ups that felt awkward due to my inexperience.  Despite tripping up a few times, my stance refused to faulter in my persistence.  This is the life I've chosen now.

The young woman had me briefly stop, only to resume once a practice dummy was set up.  I could feel a cool sweat glisten along my fur and scales as I tried to hide my growing exhaustion.  My weapon clanged each time I struck it upon the rusty armor as I gripped tighter into the handle so the sword wouldn't be knocked from my grasp.  Gerbera added more to my training as she gradually gave me new positions I had to be in that resulted in me switching between the front and back of the target.  Ache and stress clawed at my limbs, and even though this only felt like minutes, with the sun changing position in the sky and leaving an orange hue rising over, I realized truly how long each lesson has been today.

“Telaraya, that's enough."  Gerbera calmly ordered.  “I won't push you further anymore, we're done for the day."

After a deep inhale, heavy panting to over my existence.  “Are you certain about that?  I could probably keep going."

She shook her head.  “Even though I'm going to be cramming as much training into you as possible, I'm not going to overexert you.  You're still a civilian, I'm only doing this as a favor because you asked."

Even though in my mind I told myself I could go on, my body on the other hand sighed as I dropped to the ground.

I guess she's right.  Even the most professional of athletes need to know when to call it quits.  I'm going to be pushing myself each day until this test of hers, if I give up or can't make it through, then this could have been all for nothing.  I don't know how dangerous my journeys will be, and if I end up dying, I…I don't know.  I can still feel a tinge of doubt in the back of my mind telling me to just go ahead and accept what's become of me.  Again, I don't know.  If someone else was in my position, what would they do?

Gerbera offered her hand; “Here.  Why don't you go ahead wash up and recover before heading home.  You can use the shower house by the barracks."

I wasn't going to deny her since that actually seemed like a good idea now.  After being pointed towards which building it was, I lazily wandered over as the numerous soldiers in the background continued on with their training.  Fortunately for me the place was empty, allowing me to choose whichever shelf I wanted to store my clothes and free reign of all the stalls.  While there were no baths like Darter has for his inn, I will commend the massive size of this building, though it does leave a question for me.  It makes me wonder what the actual plumbing of this world is like.  Despite how big it is, this shower house looks like one used for a locker room at a gym.  It's got about ten stalls on each wall with enough privacy to cover up to an average person's neck, while the huge empty space that is the center of the room has what appears to be a drainage gate on the floor.  So how does it all work?

Is there anything like what I'm used to in my world?  How far has technology advanced here?  Is it all influenced through magic crystals like Darter showed me?  Or is it some sort of combination of both?  Though thinking about it, it does raise another question for me, and that's the concept of magic itself.  While yes magic has to exist, otherwise how else did I end up in this situation, but how far does that go?  I'm going to fry my brain letting my imagination run wild until I can get a basic understanding of magic too.

With one of my tired arms pulling a lever on the wall in my stall, hot water quickly rained down.  As I ducked my head under the soothing warmth, my vision drifted further down to the two mounds protruding from my chest.  After a huff, I then ran my hands over my body as I lifted my breasts up, only to let go as gravity made them jiggle.  It was an odd sensation I managed to keep silent about for the day, but I know the longer this life goes on, the more I'll feel it.  A light groan rumbled in my throat as how awkward the thought was that I unfortunately had to humor.  I need to eventually get support for my boobs, and that strap Mira gave me isn't going to cut it.

God, this body is just going to keep finding new ways to torment me.  It wasn't enough having to deal with the panties and skirt, now I have to complete the whole ensemble hoping bras exist in this world too.  Once I set out to become an adventurer, I'm definitely getting some new clothes.  It just sucks that I'll have to do something about avoiding discomfort for my breasts.  Is this how women feel all the time?  Why does life want to make this weird for me?  What makes it worse is the fact that I'm a boob guy, yet I can't get aroused staring at my own tits.  Come on, Avery, just ignore it for now.

With the relaxing heat washing away most of today's aches and pain, frustration began to clear away from my thoughts as well.  Soon an idea grew in me under the shower water on how to erase the rest of the stress.  I was about to unleash this feminine voice of mine, but momentarily stopped myself as I had to try and remember the lyrics since it was going to be in another language.  To start things off, I began humming to the beat of the song in my head to help brew the words in my memory.  Gradually I was able to get the song down as I couldn't help myself as my body lightly swayed and bounced to the tone.

“...kimi no soba de nemurasete, donna basho demo ii yo.  Beautiful world..."

My eyes opened as I came to its finished, but what I eventually noticed caused a surprised yelp to escape me as I instantly ducked down behind my stall door as I peeked over in embarrassment.

“No, no.  You can continue."  A fully nude woman smirked at me.

Behind her stood more naked people as it was a co-ed group.  It was a mix consisting of two male and one female beastmen, and four human guys and three women.  They slightly spread out, taking a shower of their own.  Some were conversing with each other while a few teased about keeping quiet so they could continue to hear me sing.  With a fully flushed face and my trap being tightly shut, I turned back to my wall and silently stood under the rushing stream.

“I don't recognize her, which unit is she from?"  One person murmured.

“Could be a new recruit."  Another spoke up.

“Nah, I think she's one of the cadets."

The group continued to briefly gossip about me that eventually transitioned into random stuff I wasn't familiar with.  As they joked around, one of the human guys chose a stall next to me and glanced over.  “So, what's your name, sweetie?"

God please just leave me alone.

They probably couldn't hear it, but I did groan a little as I kept quiet and resumed simply washing myself.

“I think we scared her."  Someone chuckled.

“Don't worry, there's nothing to be ashamed of, my dear.  My name is Farrell.  Would you do me the honor of telling me yours?"  The guy tried again in his mature but seemingly young voice.

“No."

“I think that's the fastest you've been rejected now."  One of the beastmen chaffed.

“Oh, you wound me!  How could a woman with such a warm voice be so cold?"  Farrell spoke in an exaggerated yet lighthearted tone.

“Well if you won't speak to him, how about one of us?  What brought you here?"  One of the girls asked.

I sighed.  “I'm here with Gerbera."  A stunned silence soon followed.

“Captain Cleary?"

“Ahh, so that's who you are.  I heard that she took an apprentice."

“If you got the Commander's attention, then you must truly be a special woman.  Please, will you grace us with your name?"  I could see Farrell wear a sly grin in my peripherals.

I resumed ignoring the guy as irritation pricked at me, but soon my eyes widened as all thoughts left me due to a familiar voice.

“Tela?  What are you still doing here?  I thought you left already."

Everyone turned to see Albert standing at the end of the hall as he stared back at me.  Their gazes slowly shifted back towards my spot as I could only mutter the phrase “damn it" under my breath.

“Tela, huh?  Quite the interesting name."

I quickly threw open the door, shot out of my stall, grabbed Albert, and dragged him back to my slot, only to then take the stall next to it just to have someone between me and Farrell.  Seeing that, the others laughed as it seemed like he was dumbfounded.

“T-Tela!  Wha…What was that about?"  Albert stammered with flushed cheeks as he tried to look away from my body.

I kept a stoic look over my blush as I tried to calm him down.  “Oh relax.  You've already seen my tits before."  I then immediately realized how poor my words were from the surprised reaction from the others.

“Wow, didn't know you two had a thing going on."

“My apologizes, Tela.  I was completely unaware you were already in a relationship."  Farrell added.

“Hey, aren't you and-"

“Wait!  No!  No!"  Albert quickly blurted out.  “It's not what you think!"

Without a second to spar, I left the showers as I could soon hear the group quickly apologize at me as some of them even mentioning my reactions were cute and they didn't mean harm.  I grabbed my towel and buried my face in it as I wanted to scream from how flustered I felt, but refused lest I die from further embarrassment.

Just two and a half weeks.  Just two and a half weeks and I probably won't have to deal with them again.  Protect me towel.